Public figures who decide to take on or otherwise interact with the people of the internet are almost always walking into a shitshow of their own making. The internet is impersonal and at least pseudo-anonymous; how could soliciting questions from the anonymous hordes not end badly? This is particularly true if you are a public figure who could best be described as a corporate shill, as internet commenters tend to be blunt. So when charter school pimp / professional hack Michelle Rhee decided to do a little Q & A…
Here's a small collection of some of the best questions as well as the attempts of others to warn her. You can see the whole exchange with the #AskMichelle tag on Twitter. It's not only brutal but almost universally so. The negative comments exceed the legitimate questions or praise by about 20 to 1.
Oh, and in totally unrelated news it turns out that yet another "charter school" was a scam set up to cash in on government handouts, this time in Milwaukee. Shocking, really. That Walker fellow seems like he'd run such a tight ship when it comes to privatizing public assets. An unfortunate oversight, I'm sure.
J. Dryden says:
Poor Ms. Rhee. She forgot an important rule for neocons: If you are going to fuck over the masses, you must always insulate yourself from their anger/pain so as to preserve the illusion that you have done right. She should have taken screened calls/messages on-air at Fox News, abetted by Megyn Kelly as her fluffer/hype-man. ("-person," I guess.) This would have created the impression that she had "opened herself up to the people," while doing nothing of the sort.
Arslan says:
What a coincidence. Here's the latest charter school scam.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_texas_public_schools_undermining_the_charter_movement.html
Xynzee says:
Please sir, can we have some more of these shills self-immoliating?
Oh the irony of this quote from Arslan's link:
"Another tactic creationists often use is to associate evolution with eugenics. One Responsive Ed quiz even asks students, “With regards to social Darwinism, do you think humans who are not capable should be left to die out, or should they be helped?”"
Given the applause for the "Let him die!" guy during the Repug primaries we know what the answer will be.
middle seaman says:
All Michelle Rhee tries to do is to make schools operate like banks. Universities almost invariably became business in a process that took less than 30 years. So much so that the top officers make seven figures salaries. Welcome to America.
Buckyblue says:
The repbs forget, don't realize or simply don't care that at some point you have to actually govern. Which means you need an administration to administer. Which means you need people to manage things. Walker is so horrible at it, and he was when he was Milwaukee County Exec, that you are forced to think it may be done on purpose just to prove the point that gov't sucks and can't do any thing worthwhile. General rule with Walker and this type of 'scandal' is that Walker knew the guy, he was some how associated with a big campaign donor or is a friend/ wife/off-spring of said donor. Incidentally, the charter school guy is now in Florida and there's nothing the good state of WI can do to get their money back. And he's opened a charter school down there. And,too, with Chris Christie on the ropes Scott Walker is the leading repug nominee for 2016……and that is all you need to know about where the Republican Party is these days.
Sarah says:
The people involved in the Milwaukee charter school shut it down and skipped town–to Florida. A state which is reeking with teabaggers. I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you.
c u n d gulag says:
Oh, the poor grifter's fee-fee-'s got hurt when she was confronted by non-sycophants and their vicious Twitter word-turds in the last refuge of "democracy" – the intertubes.
Time to go back on FUX Noise, Ms. Rhee, where they'll kiss your boo-boo and make it ALL better.
And then, on air, you can complain to them about the nasty Libtards who hurt your little fee-fee's in the first place – and the nice FUX motherfuxers will nod their heads at the evil intolerant Libtards, and give you some nice warm cookies and cold milk.
Major Kong says:
So how do I get in on this charter-school scam?
I'm thinking P.T. Barnum was way off – there are hundreds of suckers born every minute!
Mo says:
So…Wisconsin is the new Louisiana?
Some sorta pollutant has worked its way upstream the Mississippi, and it ain't hydrocarbons.
BK says:
Hey Ed – quick note. This wasn't a charter school in Milwaukee, it was a choice school (i.e. a private school that receives public funding via student vouchers based on enrollment).
Charter schools are different. They must receive authorization from a public body (thus the name 'charter') and are considered public schools. In fact, school districts can create charter schools in Wisconsin, as can city councils and Universities.
There is a huge difference between choice and charter schools in Wisconsin.
Frank in midtown says:
What, pray tell, is the "huge" difference between choice and charter schools in Wisconsin. A grifter by ant other name…